docs/source/python/env_vars.rst

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.. currentmodule:: pyarrow

=====================
Environment Variables
=====================

The following environment variables can be used to affect the behavior of
PyArrow.

.. envvar:: ARROW_HOME

   The base path to the PyArrow installation.  This variable overrides the
   default computation of library paths in introspection functions such
   as :func:`get_library_dirs`.

.. envvar:: ARROW_PRE_0_15_IPC_FORMAT

   If this environment variable is set to a non-zero integer value, the PyArrow
   IPC writer will default to the pre-0.15 Arrow IPC format.
   This behavior can also be enabled using :attr:`IpcWriteOptions.use_legacy_format`.

.. envvar:: ARROW_PRE_1_0_METADATA_VERSION

   If this environment variable is set to a non-zero integer value, the PyArrow
   IPC writer will write V4 Arrow metadata (corresponding to pre-1.0 Arrow
   with an incompatible Union data layout).
   This behavior can also be enabled using :attr:`IpcWriteOptions.metadata_version`.

.. envvar:: PKG_CONFIG

   The path to the ``pkg-config`` executable.  This may be required for
   proper functioning of introspection functions such as
   :func:`get_library_dirs` if ``pkg-config`` is not available on the system
   ``PATH``.


.. note::

   Since PyArrow is based on Arrow C++, its behavior is also affected by
   the :ref:`Arrow C++ environment variables <cpp_env_vars>`.